Field of Technology
This disclosure relates to the use of personal mobile devices to synchronize human communications, and more specifically to utilizing passive mobile device monitoring to optimize the reachability and quality associated with synchronous telephonic interactions.
Background
One of the most frustrating problems associated with the rise of mobile telephone devices includes the large numbers of synchronous interaction attempts that do not connect, or occur when the person that one is trying to reach is not in a good position to talk, or occur when the person one is trying to reach does not need or is not interested in the contact. This situation has come about because possession of a mobile device provides the presumption that a user is always available for a synchronous conversation, when in fact that is frequently not the case. Consequently, a tremendous amount of unnecessary effort is expended by organizations and individuals on attempting to unsuccessfully to reach their intended party, and, on the flip-side, individuals frequently receive calls from organizations that they are not interested in receiving or that do not come in at a convenient time.
From an enterprise market perspective, research and development focused on customer connections to and from an enterprise call center has been around for some time. Consumer reachability and engagement are critical operational and strategic problems. However, the art so far has not found effective ways to connect the call center with a customer mobile experience in an intuitive way that is adoptable by customers. With the rise of mobile technologies, enterprise business units that wish to have proactive human-to-human conversations with customers are struggling to get customers on the phone, and the quality of the interactions has suffered markedly. Furthermore, as a consumer, the fact that this problem has not been solved yet causes frustration and wasted time every day. Customers frequently receive unwelcome calls at inopportune times and have trouble reaching a human at the enterprise when needed.
It should also be noted that enterprise has attempted to solve the reachability problem using automatic Interactive Voice Response technologies, i.e. outbound “robocalls”. Although this tactic can help an enterprise with reachability, in practice it can also create a poor experience for customers and bother them at inopportune times.
Additionally, from a consumer perspective, a significant amount of effort is spent trying to reach friends and peers by telephone, with attendant voice messages, text messages to schedule calls, and attempts to call back.